5 Standout Shows to See at Small Galleries This February
By Maxwell Rabb
Sara Siestreem (Hanis Coos), “yes/and (yellow is the medicine)”
Nina Johnson, Miami
Through Mar. 13
Each of Sara Siestreem’s “minion” sculptures is crowned with what the artist calls the “Aretha cap,” a ceramic dance cap named after Aretha Franklin. Draped beneath these crowns are strings of red abalone, glass beads, and plastic buttons, as well as strips of Japanese indigo-dyed and woven industrial cotton. According to the gallery, these minions are designed to resemble “protective beings,” with the domes serving to “protect women and young people.” Four of these minions are featured in the work fiesta, forever (blue nights and rattlesnakes) (2023–24), displayed on the walls of Nina Johnson’s library in Miami for Siestreem’s exhibition “yes/and (yellow is the medicine).”
A member of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, Siestreem weaves traditional practices into her art, as seen in skyline (2024), a series of seven slip-cast ceramic baskets with golden rims. Another piece, release the dead fire basket (2024), crafted from red cedar bark, sedge, and sweetgrass, pays homage to her community’s basket-weaving traditions while promoting modern-day healing, community building, and empowerment.
Siestreem, who earned an MFA from Pratt Institute in 2007, has hosted recent exhibitions at Elizabeth Leach Gallery in 2023 and Cristin Tierney in 2024.
Read the full article online on Artsy.
